Indian wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant is following his captain’s Virat Kohli suite. After Kohli gave us a throwback by sharing an image of his young days – Pant has followed his skipper bu posting a picture of his school days.

There is a famous saying ‘Best things come in small packages’. People and fans may think that finest of the cricketers are well built and have a great physique and height. But the little ones have always been surprising packages. Like Sachin Tendulkar, who is just 5.5 – let’s have a look at some players who are the shortest ones of all time.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Monday congratulated the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) with their men’s team preparing to play their 1000th Test match, which begins at Edgbaston in Birmingham against India on Wednesday.

From his long-hair phase to the mohawk – former Indian skipper MS Dhoni has never been shy of trying new hairstyles every now and then. And this, Dhoni has gone back to the old days his latest hairstyle.

Widely regarded one of the finest all-rounders in world cricket, Sir Garfield Sobers celebrates was born on July 28, 1936. Through his extraordinary all-round abilities, Sobers has left such an indelible mark in the game that his name shall always be taken whenever we speak of great all-rounders in the game.

There are several reasons why the man who once hit six sixes in an over in a county game, Sir Garfield St Aubrun Sobers, is considered as the greatest ever all-rounder. Here is looking at a few of them.

An all-rounder par excellence:

In 93 Tests, Sobers scored 8,032 runs with 26 hundreds and 30 fifties at an extraordinary average of 57.78 – only six batsmen with more than 3,000 runs have had a better average in history. As outstanding a batsman as Sobers was, he was also a superb bowler and had 235 wickets in his career with 6 five-wicket hauls and 8 four-wicket hauls. Sobers was a genuine match-winning all-rounder and produced some magnificent all-round efforts through his career that left his mark in world cricket forever.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni has trumped Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar to be named the most “admired” sports figure in India. The survey was conducted by YouGov, which undertakes various polls and surveys in their online community of over 4 million people.

The Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) on Wednesday announced the formation of the Cricket Committee led by swashbuckling former India opener Virender Sehwag, along with ex-Test opener Aakash Chopra and Rahul Sanghvi.

One of England’s finest batsman to have graced the game, Graham Gooch was born on this day in 1953. With a total of 8900 runs in 118 Tests and 4290 runs in 125 ODIs, Gooch is among the many batting legends the game of cricket has seen.

Ahead of India’s tour Down Under later this year, Australian quick Pat Cummins has praised skipper Virat Kohli as a “really passionate” player while conceding that his bowling attack will target the “prized” wicket of the right-hander.

With the ODI series all set to be wrapped up on Tuesday with the third and the final one-dayer being played at Leeds, the Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) will turn their focus on selecting the squad for the Test series.

On June 17, 2016, Pakistan stunned the cricketing world with their remarkable turn around at the iconic Lord’s, beating England by 75 runs in the first Test of the series. It was the same venue where Pakistan were supressed by the spot-fixing revealations six years back. The then Pakistan captain Salman Butt, pacer Mohammad Asif and teenage sensation Mohammad Amir were found guilty of the accusation of spot-fixing.

And after 6 years, at the same ground, Amir, who faced 5-year ban from cricket for bowling two deliberate no-balls, also made a heroic comeback to Test cricket. However, many criticised his comeback and one of the big names were Kevin Pietersen, Graeme Swann, etc. Apart from Michael Atherton, barely any big name came in support of Amir. Despite that, the stadium was jam packed till the end of Test. Many expected the crowd boo for Amir but nothing such happened and infact, spectators welcomed him on his comeback.

After losing the second One-Day International (ODI), India will aim to improve performance in every department when they face confident England in the third and final match at the Headingley Cricket ground here on Tuesday.

Born on July 16, 1973, one of South Africa’s finest all-rounders Shaun Pollock was born in Port Elizabeth. He came up during an era when arguably one of the best all-rounders ever Jacques Kallis was taking giant strides in international cricket. However, Pollock too produced some brilliant performances and produced many match-winning spells and innings for sides. On his birthday, let’s take a look at some interesting points about Pollock.

Family of cricketers: Pollock comes from a family of cricketers. However, only his father Peter and uncle Graeme went on to play Test cricket for South Africa. However, his grandfather, great uncle Robert Howden and cousins Andrew Pollock and Anthony Pollock too played First-Class cricket. He made his Test debut when his father was the convener of selectors for South Africa.

Born July 15, 1984, Nawroz Khan Mangal was the first captain of Afghanistan and one of the most inspiration figure of the nation. Mangal is quite unlike hard-hitter Afghanistani batters and infact have good technique which provided solidity in the middle order. On the birthday of one of Afghasnitan’s hero, here are some interesting facts which covers his life story.

Childhood in refugee camps

Nawroz was born in Kabul and because of civil war, he fled from Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and spent early years in refuge camps of neighboring country Pakistan with his family. Nawroz returned to Afghanistan US Army put an end to Taliban rule in 2001.

July 13, 2002 – A day no Indian cricket fan will never forget. It gave India two new superstars. It gave the team belief that no target in too big. After that, India would go on to chase may huge targets. But it all has to start somewhere. Was this that match?

The tournament: India had a brilliant run in the Natwest Series 2002. They chased down 272 in their first match against England and then beat Sri Lanka by 4 wickets in the next match. However, bad weather ruined their charge in the next game, but they bounced back well with yet another 4-wicket win in the game after that. They suffered a minor setback when they lost to England in a rain-curtailed match, but in the match before the final, they beat Sri Lanka comprehensively. England on the other hand did not have it all smooth. They lost a couple of games, but had done enough to make it to the final. Sri Lanka had to head home after a solitary win in the series – coming against England.

Born on July 13, 1984, Francois du Plessis is South Africa’s Test captain. An elegant right-handed batsman and best friend of AB de Villiers is considered to be one of the finesh cricketer from the nation. On his birthday, let’s take a look at some interesting facts about him.

Rugby and cricket

While studying in primary school, du Plessis played rugby at the time when shoulder pads were not introduced. He loved kicking and running with the ball but not the massive fan of tackling but his dad often forced him as he was proffessional rugby player and had represented Northern Transvaal in the 80s. Because of his father, du Plessis often felt that he wanted him to be rugby player than a cricketer. But since he find better in cricket and at the age of 16, du Plessis took the decision of preferring cricket over rugby. He also broke his wrist while playing rugby and missed two months of cricket, which he thinks is the major reason to not play rugby.

England and India play the first match of their upcoming series in Nottingham on Tuesday, in what will kick off a month-long extravaganza of One Day Internationals featuring 10 sides, spread across four continents.

Sunil Manohar Gavaskar, one of the greatest ever openers in Test cricket, celebrates his 69th birthday today. Throughout his illustrious career, the ‘Little Master’ played many a glorious knock that left his imprint in world cricket forever. On this special occasion, we look back at the five Sunil Gavaskar batting performances that prove he was a true batting master.

220 vs West Indies at Port of Spain, 1971:

This was the debut series of Gavaskar and it was here that he announced his grand arrival to the world by displaying his class against the might of the West Indian pace battery. After having a pretty good time in the previous four matches, Gavaskar made the best of the good pitch in the 5th and final Test at Port of Spain, Trinidad. A well-crafted 124 in the 1st innings of the match was followed by an absolutely epic 220 in the 2nd innings. Even as the other Indian batsmen struggled to get a decent score, Gavaskar played freely and cracked some delightful boundaries all around the wicket. Oozing class and elegance, Gavaskar went on to score his first ever double hundred in Test cricket and eventually fell on 220 with 22 fours punctuating his innings. Although the match ended in a draw, this performance helped India post 427 and then really put the pressure on West Indies. This was a special knock as Gavaskar was suffering from severe toothache throughout his stay at the wicket and yet he went on to produce such a master-class.

One of the finest batsman to have graced the game of cricket, Sunil Gavaskar was born in Bombay, Indian on 10th July 1949. He had a rock solid technique and never-ending powers of concentration making him one of the greatest openers to have ever played Test cricket. He is still regarded in many circles, the greatest cricketer which India has ever produced in its rich history of producing some of the finest players in world cricket.

Gavaskar became synonymous with facing up against the fearsome West Indies bowling attack without a helmet on uncovered pitches. He also had a historical love affair with the Caribbean, where he played 13 Tests and scored 7 centuries at an average of over 70. It is still an awe-inspiring statistic, considering the world class team which West Indies possessed then, which is widely regarded as the greatest team in Test cricket’s history.

Team India won the three-match T20I series against England as they cruised past England by seven wickets in the third and the final T20I on Sunday thanks to a century from Rohit Sharma and a four-wicket haul by Hardik Pandya.

For any cricketing fan who has been to the Eden Gardens in Kolkata and has watched a cricket match in the early 2000s, such cheers should be reminiscent with the game. The atmosphere of Eden Gardens used to be electrifying each time Sourav Chandidas Ganguly walked into the field.

It is that time of the year. It is July 7, yet another birthday for India’s most loved cricketer MS Dhoni. With this birthday, Dhoni turns 36 and our statistician Abhishek Kumar present some mind-boggling statistics about him from his illustrious career.

1 — Dhoni is the only Indian till date to be dismissed run out for golden duck on ODI debut. A total of 10 players have achieved this feat in ODIs. Dhoni was the first to fall under this unwanted list in this century. After Dhoni, two more cricketers got this record to their name — Sharafuddin Ashraf (Afghanistan) and Rilee Rossouw (South Africa). Before Dhoni, players to achieve this record are Gavin Rennie (Zimbabwe), Chamara Dunusinghe (Sri Lanka), Ian Healy (Australia), Peter May (Australia), Paul Allott (England), Ijaz Faqih (Pakistan) and Brian Close (England).

You may not have heard of Vikram Solanki. You may not even know if he played for India, England or some other nation. I don’t blame you. With 1,097 runs in 51 One-Day International (ODI) matches for England at a modest average of 26.75, he is just another ordinary player to have played for England. But Solanki created history on 7th July, 2005 when he walked out to the field as the first ever super substitute in international cricket.

What is a super sub?

Between 2005-2006, the International Cricket Council (ICC), came up with a unique concept where one player can replace another player at any point of an One-Day International (ODI) match. A batsman can replace a bowler, a bowler can replace a batsman or a batsman or a bowler could even replace a wicketkeeper. A substitute fielder can only field and cannot bat or bowl, however, a suoer substitute can bat, bowl and field in place of the player he has replaced.

It was soon abolished as it was believed that the team winning the toss had the advantage. Barring Pakistan, who won two out of two, Australia have dominated, winning 9 out of the 10 matches with super sub rule in place. However, ICC decided to withdraw this rule after 60 matches.

Born on July 6, 1977, Makhaya Ntini is regarded as one of the finest bowlers to have ever played for South Africa. He reached quite a few highs but was also had many lows in 24-year career, which included 11 years of international cricket. On his 40th birthday, let us have a look at some interesting facts about the former South African fast bowler

First black to represent South Africa: South Africa have a troubled history when it comes to their black population. However, there are certain individuals like Ntini, who broke those barriers and represented their nation at the highest level. Ntini made his One-Day International debut in January 1998 against New Zealand and then a test debut followed a couple of months later against Sri Lanka. South Africa won on both occasions, with Ntini putting up a good display.

England succumbed to an eight-wicket loss in the first T20I against India on Tuesday, but despite that England players were ecstatic after their football team made them proud in the ongoing 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

Refuting all claims of softening of bans on former skipper Steve Smith and his deputy David Warner for their involvement in ball tampering in the Cape Town Test, Cricket Australia on Wednesday dismissed the reports as “purely speculative”.

One of the finest players which Indian cricket has ever produced, Harbhajan Singh was born on 3rd July, 1980 in Jalandhar Punjab. For a period, he was even regarded as the most dangerous spinner in the game due to his ability to extract vicious bounce from dead surfaces and was nicknamed the ‘Turbanator’ due to his ability to do so. He is one of the highest wicket-takers in the history of international cricket.

Harbhajan has represented India in 103 Test matches picking up 417 wickets. He has also proven to be a very capable batsman later on in his career scoring two centuries and scoring 2224 runs. He has also represented India in 236 ODIs in which he has picked up 269 wickets. He also played a crucial role in India winning the 2007 T20 World Cup and has played 28 matches picking up 25 wickets. The greatest moment in his career was the historic Test match against Australia in Kolkata in 2001 where he tormented the Aussie batsmen and was one of the main protagonists in India’s triumph.

With Jasprit Bumrah being ruled out of the T20 series after sustaining a thumb injury in the first T20 International against Ireland, Bhuvneshwar Kumar will have to shoulder additional responsibility at the death overs.

Riding on scintillating centuries by Prithvi Shaw and Hanuma Vihari, India A recorded a crushing 203-run victory over West Indies A and entered the final of the Tri-Series one-day tournament on Friday.

Fresh from a 76-run win in the opening match, India will look to ring in a few changes as they attempt to finish off their assignments in Ireland on a winning note during the second and final T20 International.

On this day, in 1980, one of modern cricket masters Kevin Pietersen was born. When he arrived in international cricket, he slammed three centuries in the second ODI series of his career and fittingly against and in South Africa, his birthplace.

A world class batsman in his hey days, Pietersen made a mockery of the bowlers with his unconventional style of batting. His class was so high despite not adhering completely to ‘Textbook’ cricket that even 8181 runs in Tests, 4440 runs in ODIs and 1176 runs in T20Is seem an understatement of his talent.

He played a crucial role in his first Ashes in 2005 where he stood firm in the last innings of the Test to save the match for England, which they won 2-1. His success as a batsman gave England a big boost in the middle order across the formats.